We live in a world that has developed into a lovers of themselves, over lovers of God. To change, we must begin by evaluating how we are to review the accuracy of our perceptions, and to build a view of ourselves based on the clear teaching of the Word of God. We must then change our perception of ourselves in light of that revelation. Sometimes we judge ourselves to be inadequate in a particular area in which the Bible does not require us to be superior. As a young person entering my junior year of high school, I was about 4’8″ and wanted to be the star center of our high school basketball team. Unfortunately, my desire and the coaches assessment did not match. It was not a sin for me to be “short, and unathletic,” yet I judged myself to be deficient. My judgment of my personal value was based upon a “flaw” that was not my fault, nor was it a true definition of who I was. My problem was that I was overvaluing size and athleticism. As we make value judgments, we need to face those things that are true but not sinful about ourselves, and realize … READ MORE

As a young man I struggled with the idea of going into vocational ministry. My struggle was, I never heard the voice of God, and I did not “feel” worthy of a “call of God” Yet, it seemed to me that going into vocational ministry was the direction God wanted me to head. I desperately wanted to have a vision, or for the Lord to speak to me in “a still small voice!” As I pursued the scripture to understand this mysterious “Call of God” speakers talked about, I was hoping for some type of Pauline experience. Unfortunately, it never came! So how do I know what God wants me to do in life? As I searched through the scripture, one of the key things I learned was that in order to serve the Lord, I must be a “follower of Jesus Christ!” If we are not first of all a follower of Christ, nothing we do in the service of the kingdom will matter. Jesus said in Luke 9:23 “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Under the direction of the Holy Spirit, Paul writes, “I … READ MORE

The Word of God is to be the basis of our walk and faith. There is no other foundation that we can walk upon. It really does not matter what I believe, what matters is what the Bible says! It is the Bible that is our source of spiritual nutrition. 1 Peter 2:2 says, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:” While we need teachers we trust, that will provide guidance for us in our understanding, we need to allow the Holy Spirit to give us direct understanding of the Word of God. We must never believe something simply because a teacher says it is true, we must only believe it because it is clearly taught in the Word of God. No instruction that is not CLEARLY, taught in the Word of God should be embraced. We can use tradition to give meaning to some of the things we do, however, we must recognize the difference between tradition and Scripture. We must recognize that tradition may change, but the truth of God’s Word remains forever! Truth must always trump tradition.… READ MORE